Bruno gets start, then gets schooled against Celtics | Toronto Sun
Despite his struggles, this was an excellent learning experience for the 19-year-old Brazilian. “It was a good lesson, he’s going against Jeff Green, who is a big-time player,” said Raptors head coach Dwane Casey. “I don’t look at the points or any of that (Caboclo didn’t score), I thought he held his own.” Caboclo was not overly excited, despite being told before shoot-around in the morning that he would start and did not spend the rest of the day fretting about it. “I think I don’t play bad, better than the other games. I only not score. Defence, I’m more comfortable, I felt so much better,” Caboclo said.
Raptors Win Ugly Against Boston 92-89 Thanks To A Late Lou Williams Three | Raptors HQ
Not much to praise tonight as very similar to Monday night, almost every player was missing their shooting stroke, besides Williams, who looked very sharp tonight as he scored 15 points on four for 11 from the field and six of seven at the line while slicing and dicing through the Celtics defense. Lowry vs. Smart was very short lived, as Kyle didn’t see the floor after the first quarter, but things did get heated early as chasing a loose ball a slight hip check from Lowry prompted Smart to give him quite the shove towards the sidelines. That put a charge into Lowry, who proceeded to play like a man possessed for the rest of the quarter, giving the Raps a jolt to get going. Also there was a #BrunoSighting as he started in place of DeMar DeRozan who took the night off to rest. While looking confused and being late on defensive rotations, Caboclo did use his length to recover and even recorded a steal
Boston Celtics vs. Toronto Raptors: 92-89: Celtics lose near comeback to Raptors | CelticsBlog
The ugly play continued into the 2nd half. The Celtics had a whopping total of 2 points in the first 8 minutes of the 3rd quarter. Both teams shot poorly, so the fan in me wants to blame the horrendous offensive output on the “rims and lighting” of the location. After scoring 2 minutes in the first 8 minutes of the 3rd quarter, Turner scored the next 7 points for the Celtics before getting ejected. Turner was putting together a solid game before the ejection with 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists in just 26 minutes. He was ejected for getting 2 technical fouls for supposedly running his mouth to a referee. After Turner went out, the third quarter went downhill in a hurry. The Celtics closed out the 3rd quarter down 68-56.
Recap: Celtics bench nearly steals one from Raptors | Red’s Army
Of course, there were a lot of rebounds to be had tonight… because the Celtics shot 41% and the Raptors shot 42.5%. In a game with 95 missed field goals, I’d like to think the bigs would be able to rack up a few.
Taj Gibson Could Be Toronto Raptors Trade Target | FanSided
While the Toronto Raptors have Patrick Patterson on their roster, there’s been whispers suggesting they’re looking to add additional help to their front line….There’s no denying that the Toronto Raptors have some nice pieces to make a deal though it remains to be seen if they’d have enough to acquire Taj Gibson who’s value is sky high. It’s also not known if the Chicago Bulls would even entertain the thought of trading him within the conference if they were to make such a move.
NBA Trade RUMORS: Taj Gibson A Possibility For Toronto Raptors? | Headlines & Global News
“There aren’t a lot of top-flight power forwards available right now (everybody’s super optimistic about where they stand right now), but there’s no way the Raptors are going to get someone great without giving up some assets,” Brigham wrote Wednesday. “(Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri) has been great about accumulating picks, so he’s got some things to work with, but getting a top-flight PF won’t be easy. Taj Gibson might become available, and he’d be a fun guy to have in there.” Toronto might not have the assets to convince Chicago to part with Gibson, but that doesn’t mean Gibson won’t be playing for another team this season.
Lewenberg: Johnson embraces second go-around with Raptors | TSN
Whatever happened in a late-season practice that caused a fracture in the relationship between Johnson and then first-year head coach Dwane Casey, the team kept it under wraps. Whatever led to his two-game suspension and forced the deal that sent him to the Kings the following summer appears to be water under the bridge. What we do know is that Casey has always valued Johnson as a defender, no surprise given the forward’s unique combination of size, speed, strength and athleticism, and Johnson hasn’t always taken kindly to the role that Casey had assigned him. “I think [it was] just his view of how he was playing and how he was being used,” Casey said. “He’s not different than probably 10 other players in the locker room, and especially young players coming in. They feel like their value is not being taken advantage of and that was James. He just felt like at that time, [at] that point in his career, he should have been doing more.”
Landry Fields Is In Danger Of Falling Out Of The NBA | Business Insider
‘There have definitely been times that I’ve thought about the contract and you look at the production and it doesn’t quite add up,’ he said. ‘But at the end of the day, I didn’t give myself this contract. The Raptors came and took a beautiful, wonderful chance that I’m forever going to be grateful for … Whatever I can do for this team is what I’m going to do. Some people will never understand that but I have to be okay with that, otherwise I’ll send myself into a mental frenzy.’ ‘One of the scariest moments this summer [was thinking about] life after basketball,’ acknowledged Fields. ‘That’s in no way, shape or form me throwing in the towel right now. It’s just natural. It just popped in my mind. In 21 years of playing basketball, this has never crossed my mind — that life could be without [basketball].’
Your guide to 2014-15 NBA coaches and their futures | USA Today
Talk about a turnaround. After going 57-91 in his first two seasons in Toronto, Raptors coach Dwane Casey not only survived the front office change from Bryan Colangelo to Masai Ujiri but earned a three-year extension after the Raptors became one of the Eastern Conference’s surprise stories last season (48-34 and a seven-game loss to the Brooklyn Nets in the first round.
